SK Chairman in Kuwait for Late Kuwaiti King's Funeral
His visit indicates SK's amicable ties with Kuwait
SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won embarked on a two-day visit to Kuwait on January 17 to pay homage to the late emir of Kuwait, Sheik Jaber Al Ahmed Al Sabah, who died on January 16.
SK Chairman Chey hurriedly flew a flight to Kuwait together with SK E&C President Sohn Kwan-ho at the dawn of January 17.
A SK official said Chey's visit was hurriedly arranged in consideration of a 40-year-old relationship the Korean conglomerate has maintained with Kuwait. In reality, SK Corp. has imported crude oil from Kuwait Petroleum Corporation, Kuwait's state-run oil company, for about 40 years.
Chairman Chey usually makes a visit to the Middle Eastern country on two or three occasions per year. In May 2005, he made a four-day trip of Kuwait when SK E&C landed a project on the construction of a crude oil storage facility. Last November, Chairman Chey flew to Kuwait prior to Prime Minister Lee Hae-chan's visit to the Middle Eastern country and greeted Prime Minister Lee.
Thanks to these efforts, SK E&C also won its bid for a $1,227 million project, ordered by Petrochemicals Industry Company, part of the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation family.
KPC came to the aid as one of the "white knights"of SK Corp. in a hostile M&A bid by Sovereign by acquiring a 4 percent stake in SK Corp.
SK Corp. imported crude oil from Kuwait for the first time in 1962 when the Korean company began to operate its first plant in Korea. SK Corp. became the first company to buy crude oil from Kuwait following the end of Gulf War. SK Corp. now imports 59 million barrels per year or 20 percent of its total crude oil imports from Kuwait. SK Corp. is Kuwait's third largest crude oil buyer. nw